


Lunch with the Kents

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-11-18
Updated: 2001-11-18
Packaged: 2017-11-01 06:18:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/353015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Restoration."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lunch with the Kents

## Lunch with the Kents

by PepperjackCandy

<http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=86102>

* * *

Title: Lunch with the Kents  
Author: PepperjackCandy  
Series: Follows Restoration   
Archive : Smallville Slash Archive, my writing at fanfiction.net Rating: PG-13  
Pairing: Clark/Lex  
Category: Established Relationship  
Spoilers for: Another spoilerette, for Metamorphosis. 

Disclaimer: I own nothing Smallville-related, or related in any other way to Clark Kent, Superman or any of the various creations of the wonderful folks at DC Comics. 

Feedback: Always welcome, either by e-mail or using the review system at fanfiction.net. 

A/N: I found it! For anyone who's unfamiliar with the song after which I've titled this story, you can hear about 30 seconds of "Honesty" at amazon.com. Search for the albums "52nd Street" or "The Essential Billy Joel" and click on the link that says "Honesty." 

* * *

The lightening sky overhead brought Lex back to reality. "Clark?" He asked, looking up at his lover. "I kept you out here all night." 

Clark smiled down at Lex. "You didn't keep me. I wanted to be here. It's what . . ." Suddenly, he decided to just go the direct route. "I love you." He finished simply. 

Lex's smile was radiant, like he'd just been given a wonderful gift. "I love you, too." Lex responded, with less hesitation than the first time he'd said those words to Clark. His smile grew brighter and they kissed, only there was little of the usual breathtaking passion in this kiss. Instead, it was simple, loving, filled with an unspoken pledge. 

"You've got to get to school." Lex said as they broke their kiss. 

"No I don't." Before Lex could argue with him about the value of his education, he followed that with, "It's Sunday." 

Lex blinked. "So it is. Well, I've got to get to work. No weekends off for me. But there's still some time for breakfast." He grinned. "I've been practicing." 

"On what?" Clark asked worriedly. 

"Scrambled eggs. I think I've got them this time." 

"This I've gotta see." Clark grinned as he and his lover walked back into the mansion. 

Some time later, Lex scooped some eggs onto a plate in front of Clark. Clark took a fork, poking hesitantly at the yellow mass. Then, he looked through them a little more intently, finally scooping some up and into his mouth. "Mm!" He said in surprise. "These really _are_ good!" 

"I'm pleased you have such faith in my abilities." Lex deadpanned. 

Clark chuckled. "You know that's not it. I knew you could do it. I'm just surprised . . ." 

"What? I can handle it." 

"I'm surprised it took you so long. For a man with your talents in engineering and business, it took you an awfully long time to master a stove." Clark grinned to take the sting out of his words. 

"Laugh it up, farmboy. Next weekend, I'll take _you_ out of _your_ element and make you manage the plant. See how funny you find it then." Then Lex relented and kissed Clark, easing the tension between them. 

Lex dished up his own eggs, then, and tried them. "Yep. I definitely have the hang of scrambled eggs. I'm thinking of tackling french toast next." 

"Well, if this is any indication, I think you're going to have french toast in no time at all." Clark smiled at his lover. "Say, Lex?" 

"Yeah?" 

"If you ever need to talk about . . . Dan, or anything, you know you can, right?" 

Lex smiled gently. "Thanks. But I just want to think about us right now." 

Clark nodded. "All right." 

"So, you up for seconds?" 

One more round of scrambled eggs, and Clark showing Lex how to make toast, later, Clark returned home, leaving Lex to prepare for his day at work. 

As he walked up the road towards the house, he heard his father's voice calling out to him. "Clark!" 

He looked around, and saw Jonathan standing over by the fence lining the road. "Hey, Dad." He greeted his father as he walked up to the fence. 

"Where're you coming back from? You missed breakfast." 

"Actually, I didn't." At his father's confused expression, he steeled himself and elaborated. "I ate at Lex's." 

Jonathan looked scornful, and Clark could see his father biting back a demand to know why Clark had gone to Lex's so early in the morning. But Jonathan's resolve crumbled far enough for him to ask, "So what did you have? Pastries hand-made by his personal French baker?" 

Clark repressed the fighting urge brought on by his father's contempt. "Scrambled eggs and toast." He answered with quiet intensity. "And Lex did the cooking." 

Then he abruptly turned from his father and walked away. 

"Clark!" Jonathan followed, then realizing that he couldn't make half the time on the soft earth that his son was making on the paved road, hopped the fence. "Son!" He ran to catch up with Clark, finally placing a hand on Clark's shoulder. "Please," he gasped, slightly out of breath, "stop." 

Clark spun around. "Why? So you can tell me how I'm wasting my time with Lex? I've put up with that for seven months now, Dad. It's starting to wear a little thin." 

"I just wanted to ask. Lex? Luthor? Cooked scrambled eggs?" 

Clark nodded, bracing himself for his father's scorn. 

Instead, Jonathan laughed. "Maybe there's some humanity in the guy yet." 

Clark flinched, memories of the video of Daniel Van Drunen's death resurfacing. "Dad, you just don't know. It's his father - *he's* inhuman." 

Before Jonathan could respond, Clark continued. "And you don't have to worry about that whole 'apple not falling far from the tree' thing, because I think that becoming another Lionel Luthor's the last thing Lex would want." 

"You aren't making any sense." Jonathan put a hand on his son's shoulder, pulling him closer. "What are you talking about?" 

"I can't tell you what he did to Lex, Dad. You'll just have to trust me. It was . . . evil. That's the only word for it. Having people like me in his life is what Lex needs. Something to reassure him that not all people act like Lionel Luthor." 

For once, Jonathan Kent was speechless. "Well, you do what you think is best, son." Was all he could manage. 

Clark blinked at his father. "You mean it?" 

Jonathan nodded shortly. "If things are the way you think they are, then how can I encourage you to do what you can to help people but deny your right to help your friend." 

{Right. Friend. Friend and more than that.} Clark wanted to be honest with his father about the nature of his relationship with Lex, but he knew that as soon as he told his father that he and Lex were in love, this new respect for his judgment would go out the window. Right before Jonathan picked up the phone to have Lex arrested. Never mind that the age of consent in Kansas was 16. 

Instead, he smiled as warmly as he could. "Thanks, Dad." 

"No problem. Now get to your chores, before your mom starts asking uncomfortable questions about why you missed breakfast." 

The fence that lined the side of the farm that ran along Route 838 hadn't been replaced since Jonathan's own youth, and it was definitely showing its age, so replacing it was Clark's chore for the day. It should have been at least a week's worth of chores, but since hardly anyone ever drove Route 838, he was able to work at something resembling a normal speed for him. 

Able to work at that speed, that is, until he heard the rumble of a car coming down the rarely-traveled highway. 

It was Lex. He pulled to a stop alongside Clark. "Hey! I'm glad I found you out here. I was almost afraid I'd have to go up to the house and ask for you. Hop in for a sec, would you?" 

Clark suspected that Lex was going to drive off with him once he got into the car, and he really couldn't afford that, not when his father was just starting to trust him regarding Lex. "No, Lex, I'd better not." 

"Why not? I don't bite. Well, not anyplace that shows." Lex responded with a flirtatious smile. 

Clark stood his ground. "You join me out here and I'll tell you." 

Lex sighed peevishly. "Fine." He pulled his car to the side of the road and got out, joining Clark by the fence. He was wearing a black crew-neck shirt and black dress pants with a black leather jacket. He spread his arms out to the side. "There. Happy?" 

"Deliriously." Clark kissed him softly. "My dad's all right with me spending time with you now. I don't want to jeopardize it by disappearing in your car while I'm in the middle of chores." 

"Have aliens taken over his body or something?" Lex responded in disbelief. 

"I didn't give him any details, of course, but I told him . . . that I can promise that you have no interest in turning out like your father." 

"You've told him that thousands of times, Clark." 

"Yes, but . . ." Clark fumbled for words, "this time I had the memory of Dan behind me. I think it gave my words a weight that they'd lacked in the past." Clark paused, to see how this statement would go over. When Lex had no visible reaction, he asked, "So, what brings you out here in the middle of a working day, Lex?" 

"I couldn't concentrate. I decided that I really need to take you up on your offer to talk," he paused, "about Dan." 

Clark's eyes widened and he looked around. "Here?" 

"Well, since you wouldn't get in the car with me, then yes. Here." Then he gracefully folded himself into a seated position on the side of the road, looking as at home there as he did behind his desk. 

Clark sat as well, with less grace, taking Lex's hand in his, trying to will his love the strength to unburden himself. 

"What do you think is my father's primary motivation for everything he does?" Lex asked suddenly. "You can have three guesses." 

"Well, I doubt he needs any more money, fame or power," Clark reasoned aloud, then he paused to think of what someone with all of the money, fame and power he could want would need. "Hold on. Your dad moved that castle here because he could. The Luthor _family_ ancestral home." He thought for a moment, then concluded, "the Luthor family name." 

Lex nodded. "Got it in one. You're brilliant as well as gorgeous." He kissed Clark. "And I think it's fairly easy to see that having his only son make a commitment to another man isn't necessarily the best way to . . . continue the family name." 

Lex lay back, looking up into the bright noonday sky. "He told me to break it off. I refused. He tried to buy Dan off. Dan wouldn't be bought. . . ." 

"So he killed him." Clark finished for him, flopping onto his stomach next to Lex. He ran one hand gently across Lex's scalp. "Oh, Lex. I'm so sorry." 

Lex shook his head sadly. "Don't be. It was a long time ago. Six years." 

"You were fifteen?" 

Lex nodded. "Dan and I went to prep school together." 

"With Bruce Wayne." 

"Right." 

"Must have been some prep school." 

"The most expensive one in the Midwest." 

Clark turned over on his side, resting his head on his hand. 

Lex continued, still staring up into the blue sky, "Well, after Dan's death, I was exclusively heterosexual. Of course, I wasn't in much of a hurry to make a commitment to any of the women I dated, either. I refused to date any woman that my father approved of, but since the possibility that I could accidentally continue the family name by knocking one up was always there, Dad just had to live with it." He grinned at the memory. "Lana and I met for the first time during that period." 

"Oh?" 

"She never told you about it?" 

Clark shook his head. 

"Ah. Well, it was the summer after Dan's death. I had decided to _show_ my father by skinny-dipping with the kind of girl my father doesn't approve of. In my father's swimming pool. Well, my father invited Lana and Nell to our house and she walked in on us. When she reminded me of it, the term she used was 'teaching her the breaststroke.'" 

Clark had to fight back a bit of jealousy to let his mirth at the image of Lana walking in on Lex in that position through. "She definitely has never told me that story." He chuckled. 

Lex started laughing, too. "You should ask her sometime. She turned a delightful shade of pink when she recounted it." 

"I'll have to do that." 

They laughed for a minute, then, in the relative seclusion of the grassy patch along the rarely-traveled road. 

"Oh, God, Clark. I wish I could tell someone about us." Lex looked up at him. 

"Well, someone already knows." 

"What?!?" 

"Don't look at me. You're the one who hasn't been quite as subtle as you think you have." 

Lex sat up a little, resting his weight on his elbows. "What? What do you mean?" He said in a deadly-serious tone. 

"It's Pete. He sort of . . . picked up on what's going on between us." 

"You lied, right? Told him that nothing was going on?" 

"Of course not." 

Now Lex sat all the way up, pulling his knees almost to his chest and rubbing his hands over his head. "Clark . . ." 

Almost at superspeed, Clark was up and next to his lover, rubbing his shoulders consolingly. "Don't worry. Pete won't tell anyone. But he called me on it, and it just . . . wasn't something that I could lie about. " 

Lex gave Clark a wan smile. "Ever the Boy Scout." 

"You wouldn't have me any other way, and you know it." 

Lex's smile became genuine. "You're right. Even though I know you're going to give me an ulcer with this honor of yours one of these days." 

"Ah, but think of how many ulcers I'm preventing you from developing at the hands of the faceless minions." He kissed the back of Lex's neck. 

"Mmm. I guess you're right." He sighed. 

Clark went to sit next to him again. 

"You stopped!" Lex whined. 

"If my father catches me kissing the back of your neck out here, Pete knowing about us is going to be the least of our problems." 

"I guess." Lex admitted reluctantly. 

They sat there for a few minutes, enjoying the spring morning. Finally, Lex stood. "I'd better let you get back to," he gestured vaguely in the direction of the fence. 

"Replacing the fence." Clark offered as he stood. 

"Yeah, that. And I'd probably better get back to . . ." 

"The office?" 

Lex smiled. "Yeah." 

Lex stepped closer to Clark, his gaze slowly moving down from Clark's eyes to his lips. Clark's eyes closed in anticipation of his lover's kiss. 

"Clark? You out here?" It was Jonathan. "Your Mom told me to call you in for . . . . Oh, hi, Lex." He concluded flatly. 

Lex's and Clark's eyes met briefly and Clark had to bite the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing. 

"Mr. Kent." Lex said in a perfectly unruffled tone. 

Jonathan looked from his son to Lex and back. "You want to join us for lunch?" 

"No, really, Mr. Kent I have to get back to . . ." 

"Nonsense. Join us for lunch." Jonathan clapped Lex on the shoulder, guiding him towards path back to the house insistently. 

"All right, I guess I will then. You coming Clark?" Lex said smoothly as Jonathan dragged him away. 

"I'll be right along." Clark said as he began to stack up his tools. Suddenly, he saw a blur coming in his direction. He caught it easily. It was Lex's car keys 

He shot a confused look at Lex, who was being corralled towards the house by Jonathan's right arm on his right shoulder. Lex was half-turned in his direction, and he mimed using the remote to lock the car. 

Clark nodded and did as his lover asked. The car chirped happily as it locked. 

"What was that?" Jonathan asked, looking around. 

Lex and Clark shrugged, but didn't respond as Clark slipped the keys back into Lex's coat pocket and joined them for the walk back to the house. 

They came in through the kitchen door and Jonathan said with false cheerfulness, "Look who's decided to join us for lunch, Martha." 

Martha turned. "Mr. Luthor. How nice to have you." She looked from her son to her husband for an explanation. 

Jonathan wordlessly turned from the room and went to get cleaned up. Clark followed his father after one apologetic look at his lover, leaving Lex and Martha alone in the kitchen. 

"I was driving up Route 838 when I saw your son replacing your fence. I'd just stopped to speak to him when your husband invited me to lunch." He smiled warmly. 

"Oh." Martha summoned up a smile. "Well, welcome. Please have a seat. Would you like something to drink?" 

Lex moved towards the chair that Martha had indicated, but didn't sit down. "Is there anything I can help you with, Mrs. Kent?" 

Martha looked at Lex wide-eyed, like a deer in the headlights. "No. Thank you." 

"Oh. Then could you tell me where I could find a glass, please?" 

Without turning her back to Lex, Martha opened the appropriate cabinet. 

"Thanks." Lex said with a smile, taking one of the glasses and filling it from the faucet. 

Elsewhere, Jonathan and Clark were getting cleaned up for lunch. 

"So, what was Lex Luthor doing there, son?" 

"Well, he couldn't concentrate at work. You know, about the thing we'd talked about about Lionel, and so he came to talk to me." 

Jonathan nodded. He could tell when Clark was lying, and Clark was most definitely _not_ lying. He might not be telling the whole truth, but it was the truth, so he let it go. Wordlessly, Jonathan dried his hands and headed back towards the kitchen. 

Clark, not wanting to leave Lex alone with his parents, hurried after his father. 

To his surprise, when he arrived back in the kitchen, Lex was sitting calmly in the usually-empty fourth seat at the table, sipping a glass of water, looking for all the world like that fourth chair had always been empty because it had been waiting for Lex. 

Jonathan took his seat at the table, and Clark asked, "Anything I can help you with, Mom?" 

She shook her head. "No. I have everything under control." She smiled as she placed a plate with a sandwich of leftover corned beef on rye, garnished with potato chips and a pickle, in front of her husband. 

Clark sat, while Martha served Lex. "I hope this is to your liking." She said hesitantly. 

As Martha put a plate down in front of Clark, Lex took a bite of his sandwich. "Mmm." He said with a smile. "Best corned-beef sandwich I've ever had outside of New York City." 

Martha, who'd taken her seat, smiled politely. "Thank you, Lex," her tone clearly indicating that she didn't entirely believe him. 

Clark dug into his sandwich, even though he wasn't particularly surprised by the corned beef, it was left over from the previous night's dinner, it was as good as Lex had said, but perhaps that was because he was eating it at a table with the three people he loved most in the world. 

Clark looked from Martha to Jonathan to Lex, knowing that Lex had only begun to reveal the secrets of his own life, but feeling that he owed Lex some of his own secrets in return. He chewed thoughtfully. Of course, Lex knew something of Clark's invulnerability, but that was something that Lex had pieced together on his own. 

Suddenly he realized that someone was talking to him. "What?" He said. 

"I was asking how long you've been working on the fence." Lex enunciated clearly. 

{This is it.} Clark thought. {My chance. I tell him that I've done all that work in one day, and then later once we're away from Mom and Dad, I'll tell him how I managed to do all that work in one day. That'll be a fair exchange of secrets. Superspeed for Dan's death.} 

Then he looked at his mother and father and suddenly the words, "Not long. A couple of days," popped out of his mouth. 

Lex, who knew well where Clark had been all day Friday, frowned. "Oh, really?" 

"Yeah. Well, I started it Thursday after school," he babbled, "then worked on it yesterday and today." He swore at himself silently for failing to follow through on his plan to tell Lex the truth. 

"Oh." Lex smiled, accepting this explanation at face value. 

Clark felt like a heel. 

"So, Lex. You've been in Smallville for, what? Seven months now. Must be feeling like home by now." Martha said chipperly. 

Lex almost responded in his usual suave, charming way, but instead, Clark watched as he let the mask slip. "I've got to admit that I still get homesick sometimes, but some of the things I've found here, like Clark, make up for it." Then he gave Clark the smile that he had only seen when they were in private. Lex's real smile, warm and heartbreakingly sincere. 

Martha blinked and said, impulsively, "Well, you're welcome here anytime. In fact, we'd love to have you for dinner sometime." 

Jonathan cleared his throat. "Well, I'd better be getting back to work." He stood. 

Clark, stunned at his father's lack of argument, said, "I'll be right behind you Dad." He looked at Lex. "You coming, Lex?" 

"Do you need any help cleaning up, Mrs. Kent?" Lex asked. 

Martha looked around. "No, thank you Lex. It's just a few plates." 

"You sure?" 

"Yes, thank you." She smiled broadly as she stood. 

Lex stood as well. "And I'd love to take you up on your offer for dinner. Just name the date and tell me if I can bring anything." 

Martha said, "How about this coming Friday?" 

"Friday it is, then. I'm looking forward to it." 

Jonathan nodded. "Lex." 

"Mr. Kent." Lex said in a similarly level tone. 

After Jonathan had left the house, Clark and Lex followed, walking so close that their hands brushed occasionally. "That wasn't so bad." Lex said giving Clark that same warm smile. 

"Um, what was up with the car keys?" Clark asked. 

"Your dad was pushing me along so fast, I was out of range before I knew what had happened. And I figured that stopping and walking away from him to lock my fancy sports car wouldn't exactly endear me to him. Gotta do what I can to impress the future in-laws." 

Clark looked at Lex, smiling warmly. This had firmed his resolve to give Lex something of his own secrets. "Lex, there's something I need to tell you." 

"What?" 

"Well, I haven't been working on the fence all that long, actually." 

"Oh, so you've been lying to me." Lex said in a sarcastic tone that clearly spoke volumes about Clark's intense honesty. 

"Um, actually I have." 

Lex stopped in his tracks. "You have?" 

"Yeah. I lie a lot. Not, like, to get away with stuff. It's just that I'm so used to hiding." He sighed. "You know that . . . durability . . . we talked about last night?" 

Lex nodded. "Yes." 

"Well, that's not all. I'm also holding back a lot. Physically." 

"Holding back?" 

"Yeah. The most obvious is, well, speed. My 'normal' speed is a lot faster than others'." 

Lex looked intrigued. "Really?" 

Clark nodded. They'd reached the fence by now, and Clark nailed the next board to its post at a speed that was a blur to Lex. 

"That's normal speed for me." He shrugged. 

Lex blinked, then took the hammer from Clark's hand, setting it on the ground gently. Then he took both of Clark's hands in his. "Thank you." He said sincerely, "But you don't have to do this." 

"Do what?" Clark was genuinely confused. 

"Trade me secret for secret. You're entitled to your secrets, Clark. I didn't tell you about Dan so that I could get something from it." 

"Get something from it? I never thought you'd . . ." 

Lex interrupted. "I told you because it was something I wanted you to know. Keep your secrets, Clark. Until they're something you _want_ me to know." 

Lex cupped Clark's face gently between his hands and kissed him. 

"I love you, Lex." Clark sighed. 

"I love you, too, Farmboy. Now get back to work." Lex grinned at his lover before unlocking his car and driving away. 


End file.
